


Swordspoint Drabbles

by Celandine



Category: Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-08-07
Updated: 2010-04-20
Packaged: 2018-12-18 08:49:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11870814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: Drabbles set in theSwordspointuniverse.





	1. Under the Willows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Young Alec longs for freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For tayefeth who wanted Swordspoint: Alec, willow.

If his sister peopled the orchard with her imagined horses and friends, David haunted the stream banks and the willows which lined them.

Not David when he was there. Alec.

He whispered the name to the slender yellow-green leaves that rustled as he lay beneath them, disregarding the mud and moss that stained his clothes.

Alec could do whatever he wished, whether or not a noble was supposed to. He could run away to the city, study at the university, become an actor.

David looked at the sun through the willow leaves, and one day it was Alec who left.


	2. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard sees a stranger dicing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For westernredcedar who asked for Richard/Alec, pride.

The young man slouched in a ragged black robe, long brown hair caught back in a student's tail. He wore no sword, no knife. High flat cheekbones made his green eyes glitter catlike; he licked his lips and rolled the dice, his face stiffening to a mask when he lost yet again and counted out the coins he owed.

Richard didn't play dice, but found his attention caught by the desperate pride in the stranger's expression. Their eyes met. Richard nodded at an empty seat, waved for a mug of ale as smooth vowels of thanks wrapped themselves around him.


	3. The Main Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horn had always had an eye to the main chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For just_ann_now, whose prompt was "opportunity."

Horn had always had an eye to the main chance. Though he had never been enough inclined to bed women to make much use of them, he had found plenty of men over the years who were willing to help him in return for Horn's flattery and favors. In turn he did the same.

Thus when Michael Godwin practically fell into his carriage one cold night, Horn saw it as another opportunity. The coltish youth he had seen several years before at the Godwins' estate had grown into an extremely personable young gentlemen, and Horn resolved to pursue his inclinations.


	4. Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The duchess has asked Richard to come see her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For just_ann_now, who wanted Post- _Swordspoint_ : Duchess Tremontaine, Richard, chocolate.

Richard watched as the Duchess Tremontaine poured the steaming milk and stirred sugar into the tiny cup. His own chocolate waited undrunk; he waited until she had sipped from hers before he lifted it to his lips.

"You are the best." She stated it calmly, her fair eyebrows arched as if daring him to disagree.

"As a swordsman, yes. Did you wish to employ my services, madam?"

"I do not believe I need to do so." The cup tinkled in its saucer. "Merely answer me this. Why did you kill Lord Horn?"

"He hurt Alec," answered Richard simply, and she smiled.


	5. Nip and Tuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine would rather be practical than fashionable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For just_ann_now who wanted Katherine and Mia, "fashion."

"It's important," Artemisia insisted. "No one will take you seriously if you don't make some concessions to fashion."

"I look ridiculous, and besides, how can I fight if I can't breathe?" Katherine gestured at her tight-nipped waist. "My uncle..."

"Your uncle was generally outrageous, but still relatively conventional in attire." Artemisia frowned, snatched up a piece of ribbon and began looping it around Katherine's bosom and waist. "If we accentuate the lines so, and pad your shoulders and hips, we can remove the tight lacing and still give you the proper appearance."

Katherine turned toward the mirror. "Mia, you genius!"


	6. Pierced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard would have liked to give Alec more than the rings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For just_ann_now who wanted Richard, Alec, earring.

It was university fashion, like long hair, to have an ear pierced, or occasionally both. Richard had noticed the dimple of piercing in Alex's ear the night they met, but he'd never seen Alec wear anything in it, and one didn't ask Alec questions about that sort of thing.

The night that they went to the theater, and Richard persuaded Alec to wear his rings, he would have given him an earring to wear also, if he had had one. But Richard's ears were whole, and no former lover had given him any earrings. He had never regretted that before.


	7. Who Apprehends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard does not remember clearly, but perhaps that doesn't matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For telperion1, who wanted Swordspoint. Richard/Alec, velvet.

St. Vier didn't remember much of that week, afterward. He was not one for dwelling on the past in any case, but this time he had the excuse of fever. One of the few things that stood out was Alec's voice; he could hear the terror, and afterward he understood it, but at the time he only wondered what had frightened Alec so that his voice sounded like velvet over broken glass, sharp and urgent without quite losing his noble drawl.

Alec had been shouting at the physicians, and perhaps their efforts had saved Richard's life, although he was inclined to give the credit for that to the herb-woman whom Alec had had brought up from Riverside. Whether saving his life had been for the good was another matter entirely. With his sight claimed by the fever as its token, his days as a swordsman were ingloriously over, and what else was there for him?

He learned what when Alec slipped into the bed beside him. Although now blind, he could read the truth in the Duke of Tremontaine's body as well as, sighted, he had ever been able to read it from that of the ragged young University student.


End file.
